King's Cage [Completed]

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Hey, sorry. I know I said I'd do Maven but I wrote this tonight while babysitting and thought you might like it. So here you go. I'll do Maven next, I promise. Thanks! Sorry it's short, but let me know what you like about it. ♥♥

Mare

My home is destroyed. Demolished. Burned. I can only imagine the blood curdling, agonizing screams of the people who burned with it. The children, the families. Innocent, worthy lives wiped out j u s t l i k e t h a t. Some may have deserved it, but that doesn't mean it was dignified. Some may have welcomed death with open arms, as a means of escape from the pain of this world... that means nothing in comparison to the ones who fought to live, and failed.

I blame him. I blame Maven.

Yes, it was Evangeline, the little prick, who originated the destruction of my home, but Maven is always ahead of death. Always plans it. He didn't stop her actions, he made it acceptable.

I suppose the Stilts hasn't been my home for a long time, though. It feels like it has been years since I first met Cal while attempting to pick his pocket. And growing up wrestling with Kilorn feels like another life. Another time. Another Mare.

And I'm not the same, am I? I have changed so much, for better or for worse I cannot tell. I'm not even Mare Molly Barrow. I am Queen Mare Molly Calore. I married the king, the snake.
The wrong brother.

As he sleeps by my side, full of warmth and deceit, I burn his image into my mind. He is not real. He deserves what I will soon put upon him. The boy I once loved is gone, never existed. I have been with this new one long enough to know that. This new Maven is nothing like the one he pretended to be. He can try to be sweet and cute and thoughtful. He can try to love, but he is incapable of it.

Nothing. He is nothing.

But that means that I am nothing too.